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Bale making bid for spot in rotation

Bale making bid for spot in rotation

MESA, Ariz. -- If John Bale needed to make a case for his inclusion into the Royals starting rotation, he might well have done so with his performance on Tuesday.

For his first five innings, Bale deftly controlled the game's tempo. He held the Cubs to one run on two hits.

"I felt like I was cruising along there," he said.

So efficient and effective was the 33-year-old Bale that manager Trey Hillman sent him back to the mound for the bottom of the sixth.

But Bale soon found himself in trouble. He allowed the first two Cubs batters he faced to reach base on singles -- one of them of the scratch variety. Danger now confronted Bale in the form of Alfonso Soriano and Derrek Lee.

Bale fanned Soriano and got Lee to ground hard to third in what should have been a double play. The double play wasn't turned, though. Bale ended up having to face Aramis Ramirez, another batter who spelled danger.

Three pitches later, Bale tried to get Ramirez to chase another slow curve. The pitch's location wasn't where Bale had wanted it to be. It was too high in the strike zone, and it caught too much of the plate.

He found himself looking at a baseball sailing over the right-field fence.

"This is just a funny game," Bale said. "It comes down to one pitch."

One walk later and his day was done. Yet what Bale left behind was a body of work that looked rock solid. This was another performance that has kept him in the thick of landing a spot in Hillman's rotation.